[MUD-Dev] Secondary characters as a mechanic

[Ted L. Chen]

Brian Hook wrote:

> This is a wacky idea that someone has probably already thought of
> and shot down, but I figured I'd toss it out and see what others
> had to say.

Not that wacky, I've been musing along the same lines.  Oh, maybe it
is then.  ;)

> For example, you have a primary character, and as you gain power
> and prestige, other characters can be added to your party.  These
> new characters would be at some level of power lower than your
> primary character.

> These characters can be played simultaneously, but the game would
> focus on the "party as character" and "primary as character".  For
> example, faction would be carried at the party level.

At least to me, the arch prototype for this idea would be something
along the lines of a multiplayer Jagged Alliance.  Which leads into
some interesting things when you think of the possibilities of
allowing scripted character interaction between party members.  This
could go a long way to reducing the boredom associated with soloplay
in a MMOG.  In fact, it could almost reduce the multiplayer
interactions to a minimum (of which I'm a strong proponent).

Another neat thing made possible with multiple party members is that
your system can kill one or two off permanently.  This way, you gain
the emotional repercussions of death without actually having your
player to start over again.  Like the biased-random number thread
going on right now on the list, a biased system can keep the player
from suffering too many team losses in a certain period in order to
increase the emotional effect.

And in a weird way, the fact that you have people dropping left and
right of your primary character can actually raise the apparent
'heroic' presence of your primary.  It's not rational, but it
happens.


TLC


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